What are the consequences of Bullying?


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Editorial:



Rigby, K. (2001). Health consequences of bullying and its prevention in school. New York, NY: The Guilford Press

Summary: This editorial is an examination of whether or not peer victimization has a negative affect on childrens health. Specifically, this focuses on the states of psychological distress and impaired physical health. The health effects examined in this editorial include effects such as anxiety, depression, lonliness, unhappiness, and even suicidal thoughts. Rigby makes the point that there is evidence that concludes that peer victimization can lead to health affects. Bullying needs to be dealt with to minimize suicidal thoughts in children.

Response: I think that this editorial is pretty shocking. Most people would look past bullying, and think that it is just kids joking around. However, after reading this, it is clear that bullying can have far worse effects, even leading to suicide in extreme cases. I think that we need to try to minimize bullying in school systems, even if it is just intended to be a joke. Someone could take the joke the wrong way, and end up hurting themselves, or mentally unsound.

Analysis:


Schwartz, J. (2010, October 2). Bullying, suicide, punishment. The New York Times, p. WK1

Summary: This article was about the dangers of cyber bullying. The article was about a student at the Rutgers University, Tyler Clementi, who jumped off of a bridge to committ suicide, after his roommate and a friend video taped him during an encounter with another male. The two are faced with serious criminal charges including invasion of privacy, although some would like the penalty to be raised to manslaughter. The rest of the article goes on to argue what the penalty should be for situations like this. Some think that the penalty should be manslaughter, while others think that the jury should not take into account the ending result of the bullying.

Response: After reading this article, im not completely sure what i believe the punishment for bullying should be. One part of me thinks that they should recieve the manslaughter charge, because the acts of bullying were the reason why Tyler committed suicide. However, another part of me agrees that the jury should not take into account the outcome of this case, because the actions of the victim were ultimately up to him. This situation could have happened, and if the victim did not committ suicide, it probably wouldnt have even made the news. There are so many different situations and possible outcomes that bullying can have, which makes this question an ongoing debate.

Scholarly Article:


Cohn, A, & Canter, A. (2003). Bullying: facts for schools and parents. National Association of School Psychologists, 1, 1-6.

Summary: This article went into detail with alot of facts about bullying, starting at the basics. The article starts off by giving the reader an idea of how big of a problem bullying can be, with examples such as how teachers only respond to 4% of bullying actions. Also, the article confirms that bullying doesnt only affect the victim. Bullying can effect the bullier in negative ways, and often they will grow up to be violent. Both victims and and bullies can develop violent attitudes and fight more than other peers. Along with this, many schools have "zero tollerence" policies, meaning that bullies are usually punished with suspention or expulsion.

Response: I think that this is a really good article on bullying, and parents especially should read it. It goes over all of the basics, along with telling the reader the negative effects that are caused by bullying. It also goes into detail about how to prevent this issue, and there would be none of these negative effects of bullying if the policies were more strict. This article informs the reader on how to prevent bullying, with advise to parents and to schools. I think that parents should be more involved in their childrens lives, and make sure that their child is not a bully or a victim of a bully. I also believe that the "zero tollerence" policy is a great idea, because the stricter the penalty in school is, the more likely people will take it as a serious issue, and in return, hopefully prevent bullying from happening.

Scholarly Article:


Morrison, B. (2002). Bullying and victimisation in schools: a restorative and justice approach. Australian Institute of Criminology, 219, 1-6.

Summary: This article starts off by letting the reader know the effects bullying can have, including a high drop out rate and high chance of criminal activity for the bullier, and long term psychological effects on the victim. Bullying is an obsticle which interferes with learning, self development, and effective citizenship. The article then goes on to tell the reader about a program being set up in Australia called a restorative justice program. They have identified bullying as a risk factor associated with antisocial and criminal behavior. They believe that bullying can be reduced, and the best place to achieve maximum reduction is to start early during a childs education.

Response: I think that this article contains some pretty good ideas. They believe that restoring justice can be completed by emphasizing the importance of healthy relationships among students and peers in the community. I believe that this is a good idea, because the prevention of bullying means a less chance of bullying. This would reduce the amount of victims being bullied, which means less children will end up with suicidal thoughts, anxiety, depression, or other negative problems. Also, if bullies build a strong relationship with their peers, they will be less likely to bully and less likely to drop out of school and make poor life decisions.

Summary:


Maree, K. (2005). Bending the neck to the yoke or getting up on one. Acta Criminologica, 18(2), 15-33.

Summary: This article was all about the violence, corpral punishment, and bullying found in South African Schools. The part that i found most usefull was the section about the effects of bullying. This article states that bullying can have tramatizing effects on children, including depression, anxiety, suicide thoughts, and can usually lead to violent behavior as an adult, such as alienation or physical abuse of your children. It also states that "power assertion", or bullying, positively correlates with delinquency, agression, academic failure, and other forms of psychopathology. Victims and bullys alike usually have lower self-esteem levels than others who are not bullied or do not bully others. Lastly, it states that bullying can easily be picked up by a child from their parents, because children learn through models, and if they see their parents solving a problem using violence, they will likely do the same.

Response: I think that this article is very informative. It gives the reader an idea about why people bully, and also shows the effects that bullying has on both the victim and the bully. It helps put things into perspective and shows why people bullying is such a big problem. This article is useful because it tells the reader that there is no good reason to bully, because nothing good comes of it. the bully may be able to release some frustration, but it is in an unhealthy way, and will negatively effect him/her later on in life.

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